Although I'd love to schedule a semi-regular manicure - 15 minutes of peace and quiet interspersed with a hand massage? Yes please! - I seem to be preternaturally predisposed to chipping. My nails are somewhat flaky to begin with, so when you add a coat or two of polish, no matter how expertly applied, I end up with shredded tips in a matter of mere hours. The longest a manicure has ever lasted was four days, and that was on vacation. There was no typing, dishwashing, or horseback riding to needle my nails.
CND's Shellac Manicure is one way to extend the life of polish - it really and truly lasts a full two weeks - but at $40 a pop, I often get cold feet...or hands, as it were. SensatioNail's new Invincible Gel Polish Starter Kit, however, takes the in-salon experience to the privacy of your own living room for what amounts to about $6 per treatment (find it at WalMart and select CVS stores starting this month).
This genius gel polish lasted 10 days - I suspect it'd stretch to the full 14 on "normal" nails - and it took about 25 minutes to complete. Plus, unlike regular manis that need to be coddled and kid-gloved until they fully dry, you can dip your hand right into your purse as soon as you're done painting. That's because the polish is "cured" onto your nails using an LED lamp so it forms a nearly impenetrable seal.
The first time I applied the gel, my stroke was a little wonky, so for a fortnight I sported nails that were imperfectly polished, meaning they didn't chip or flake, but they didn't look as professional as my local nail technician might have accomplished. The gel polish is thicker than any ordinary lacquer so it can be tough to get super smooth. My second go-round, however, was far more successful.
At the end of two weeks, you remove the polish by soaking your nails in acetone for 10 minutes before peeling it off with a wooden cuticle stick (or in my case, an icing spreader). This wasn't my favorite way to pass the time but, for me, a manicure is a relatively rare treat, so I was willing to play along. Expert tip: apply a thin film of Vaseline to cuticles pre-removal and swap on jojoba oil afterwards to prevent them from drying out.
While the $60 price tag may seem a bit high at first blush, the starter kit comes equipped with everything you'll need to get all lacquered up - from the LED light to the chip-proof topcoat - and it comes with enough polish to last about 10 manis. Better still: all lacquers are "3-free," meaning they don't contain potent preservatives and irritants like formaldehyde, toluene or dibutyl pthalate. I may still be rough on my hands, but at least they'll look pretty.
What it is: Rough, scaly and oh-so-unsexy, Keratosis Pilaris - aka "Chicken Skin" - crops up on the upper arms and fronts of thighs. While many of us are fortunate enough to outgrow this condition, some of us - myself included - have to work to keep our arms and legs bump-free. The good news is, this flock of pink and white nubs are hardly worrisome, they merely represent an overgrowth of dead skin cells blocking the hair follicle.
